Have you noticed that egg prices have soared? Over the past few years, egg prices have more than doubled. Those cheap breakfast egg sandwiches are not so cheap now.
Statista.com charts the change in egg costs over the last thirty years. In 2020 and 2021, a dozen eggs cost under $2 per dozen. In 2022, that price jumped to $4.25 per dozen. Now, a dozen eggs will cost you about $5 per dozen. Just for the record, 1999 came in the lowest at 92 cents per dozen. The ’90s hovered around $1 per dozen.
The Unversity of Minnesota shared that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have confirmed H5Ni Avian Flu detections in poultry from four states: Ohio, Nebraska, Arizona, and Florida. The H5N1 Avian Flu affects millions of birds and makes them very ill.
A similar outbreak occurred in 2022, “H5N1 was first detected in US poultry in early 2022, outbreaks have led to the loss of a record 147.25 million birds across all 50 states and Puerto Rico,” reports the University of Minnesota. Over the past month, Ohio outbreaks involved commercial farms in Mercer County, three turkey producers, and one duck meat facility. These have led to the loss of nearly six million birds, including several large-layer farms.
How are consumers handling the price hike? Egg substitutes are becoming popular. In baking, Healthline suggests a number of possible egg substitutes like applesauce, mashed bananas, nut butter, and more. Liquid egg substitutes or protein powders can also fill the gap until prices come down a little.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed an outbreak at a layer farm in Arizona’s Pinal County, which has about 316,000 birds. Other detections include Kearney County, Nebraska, and Orange County, Florida. H5N1 was first detected in U.S. Poultry in early 2022, leading to the loss of a record 147.25 million birds across all 50 states, including Puerto Rico.
In dairy cow developments, APHIS confirmed another detection in a herd from California, which raised the national total to 944 and the state’s total to 727.
This is one of the main reasons why the prices of eggs have been on the rise.
Egg prices are expected to increase more than 20 percent this year, and the overall inflation rate for food is expected to be 2.2 percent due to the highly pathogenic bird flu limiting the poultry supply in the U.S.
Experts say the increases will likely continue as long as outbreaks of the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), which began in 2022 and brought record-high egg prices – reaching an average of $4.82 per dozen in January – persist.
Biology teacher, Jen Giordano said, “This is a virus that spreads through contact. It is primarily passed between birds and cannot reach other mammals due to biological and genetic differences. I think that they need to focus on how to mitigate the spread of the virus to keep birds healthy and keep eggs on the shelves. A lot of research and development needs to go into this matter.”
Egg prices have also increased more than 8 percent from November to December, according to the Consumer Price Index, and the average cost of one dozen Grade A large eggs in December across the U.S. was $4.15 – up from $2.52 at the start of 2024. Eggs in cartons are now seen to be anywhere around $7 to $32. Many eggs have been completely out of stock.
What do you think about the sudden bird flu and egg prices?
